Bullet Journaling on a Budget

Thinking of starting a bullet journal? Take it from me, it’s fun and addicting.

I often get asked what supplies I recommend when starting a bullet journal. So, I decided to put together a list of my go-to supplies. Let me just put it out there, these supplies may not be universally liked. It’s also okay to disagree with my suggestions or even mix and match supplies, colors, or brands.

While creating these supply lists, I made them with two different budgets in mind, a $35 and $65 dollar budget. If the budget is limitless, go all out, believe me, it’s really easy (and fun) to spend money on supplies.

So let’s get started.
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When I first started bullet journaling I was a little concerned with needing to spend a bunch of money on supplies.

Instead, I decided to use what I already had on hand. I needed a journal/notebook, so I bought this dot grid journal. I like the dot grid because it helps me line things up straight and even. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend a more affordable bullet journal without jeopardizing quality as I have yet to use a cheaper journal that I truly like.

Let me confess a little something. I really like this journal and this journal more so than the journal I am currently using. And when 2018 rolls around, I will start a new bullet journal with either one of those brands. More info on that is coming in a future post.

Here’s my current bullet journal collection.

Aside from the journal itself, I had many supplies I collected over the years.

But, starting from the beginning without any supplies can get costly. So, I’ve created some ideal supplies to start with based on budgets.

With just about every journal post, I use this ruler. I’m not a fan of those non-skid rulers, so this ruler is perfect and it’s half the size of a traditional ruler making it easy for me to travel with.

Markers are also an absolute must and I have my fair share of favorites. But when on a budget, I’m all good with making do with what I already have. I was completely happy with these markers. They are bright, vibrant, and come in all sorts of colors. I still use them to this very day (I also use them for modern calligraphy too).

In the majority of my journals I use these bright and vibrant fineline (0.3 mm) pens. I’ve had them for a couple years and are still holding up strong.

I also use these pens. They are finetip (0.5 mm) and are really affordable.

I also like to add calligraphy into my bullet journals. I tend to gravitate towards these brush pens by Tombow and these brush pens by Uchida. An added benefit of the Tombow and Uchida brush pens – I use them as a form of stamp pad for my rubber stamps (just color in the stamp with the pen).

Speaking of rubber stamps, I’m a big fan of using stamps. My favorites are these alphabet and number stamps that are often seen in my layouts.

I also love my latest acquisition, the calendar stamp.

I almost forgot, these acrylic blocks are a must. The blocks are used to hold stamps in place. And, when I want a basic black stamping in the bullet journal, I use this black ink pad.